Fort Lyon Supportive Residential Community

Friday

Jul 11, 2014 at 3:00 PM

Program Director James Ginsburg of the Fort Lyon Supportive Residential Community explained how the recovery program at Fort Lyon is working to the Community Conversations group at The Barista on Thursday evening.

Bette McFarrenbmcfarren@ljtdmail.com

Program Director James Ginsburg of the Fort Lyon Supportive Residential Community explained how the recovery program at Fort Lyon is working to the Community Conversations group at The Barista on Thursday evening.

Ginsburg expressed his thanks to the local communities for the welcoming attitude toward the persons who are living in the Fort Lyon Community now, all of them formerly homeless and most recovering from addiction problems. All have some sort of criminal record, he said, but nobody with a recent problem or an outstanding warrant is accepted. Also, no registered sex offenders or court referrals are accepted. No one with acute mental health issues is admitted and a criminal background check is done on everyone. These are only people who have decided to deal with their problems and have been referred by one of seven agencies scattered across the state in Denver, Fort Collins, Durango, and other cities. There is a waiting list of 100. The capacity of the facility is 300, but that would overtax the present staff and organizational state, said Ginsburg.

Current residents number 180, of the 220 originally enrolled. The attrition rate is very low for this type of facility. This is Colorado's first effort at dealing with the problem of homeless, traumatized and addicted persons. The average age of the people at Fort Lyon is 48. The average life span of a person in the type of life they were living is 49. So for most, this is a last chance effort.

The question was asked about how many veterans are being treated there. Ginsburg answered that in the general population of the homeless, veterans account for only 11 percent. In Fort Lyon, 26 per cent are veterans.

Ginsburg said the problem of homelessness is systemic. To pay for a two bedroom apartment in Denver, a person working at minimum wage would have to work 18 hours a day seven days a week. The group immediately saw the advantage of returning some of these people to areas other than Denver, although everyone admitted must have a sponsor for the rehabilitation period after release.

Training and education are major components of the treatment, along with counseling (every person has a counselor and a peer mentor). Otero Junior College is now offering five courses, in which 50 persons are enrolled. One very popular program is Health Navigator. An emphasis is placed on programs which can be completed in two years or under and will make a person employable for a living wage. Some of the clients have disability Social Security, but most do not. Addiction is not recognized as a disability.

When a person enters the facility, he must stay for two weeks in the facility, then he is allowed to go into the community with accompaniment for another two weeks. All females have their own rooms, and nobody is crowded. Houses on the Fort Lyon campus are being rehabilitated for the use of persons almost ready to go back into the general population. Two are now ready for occupancy, and there are persons ready to enter this stage, as the program is now 10 months old.

Ginsburg said this is a growing program, evolving according to the needs of the individuals involved in it. They take care of their own housekeeping and even helped with the wastewater disposal system which had to be replaced when the facility was first activated. They also handle the cooking chores.

Many institutions are helping with this project. Otero Junior College has already been mentioned, but Lamar Community College is also involved, as are Valley-Wide Clinic, Southeast Health Group, the 12 Step Program, local churches and Arkansas Valley Regional Medical Center, to mention a few. Marianne Hale discussed bringing an arts and crafts program to the Fort. Volunteers are used, said Ginsburg, but very carefully and with training.